Car Shopping - Small Crossovers

[nscrbug]

Ford did not take any bailout money. The Mazda trucks are basically Fords, no idea about the other vehicles.
I've actually just started looking at vehicles as I'm going to be getting a new work vehicle at some point, just need to get debt paid down first. The biggest thing I'm looking for are fuel effient as possible (and better than my current car), a good bit of easy to use and get to storage space and I really want radio controls on the steering wheel. Yes, my current car has spoiled me. No we are not getting rid of any of our vehicles for the new one. I've basically decided it needs to be a hatchback car. We have two pick up trucks and do NOT need an SUV (nor do I want one). We're looking at the Mazda 2 and 3, the Nissan Versa, and the Ford Focus. Actually just saw the Focus yesterday and that is a nice looking car. Also may consider the Nissan Lief and the Toyota Yaris.

We had considered the Leaf as a possible purchase...that is, until we found out that they are pretty much useless in cold climates. That 100-mile range they supposedly have, drops down into the 40's when the temperature drops. If you happen to live in a "green" state (west coast, SW, & south), then I'm sure the Leaf would be awesome...but for us in the Midwest, not so much.

[Koronin]

Irulan, when it gets closer to when we can actually afford to to make a purchase, I'd love to see what all you like/dislike about yours. Nothing is better than actually talking with someone who owns a vehicle (even if it's a different year).
nscrbug, we live in NC on the coast, so we don't get the real bad harsh winters of the mid west or the north. But that is definitely something to think about.

[zoom-zoom]

Irulan, when it gets closer to when we can actually afford to to make a purchase, I'd love to see what all you like/dislike about yours. Nothing is better than actually talking with someone who owns a vehicle (even if it's a different year).

You can see what I said about my '06 3s 5 door, upthread. There are things we love about our 3 ("zoom-zoom", height-adjustable seat, the way it fits my 6'2" hubby and <5'4" me equally well, wonderful manual transmission) and things we don't love (really low-rent sheet metal, continuous CEL since about 55k miles, mediocre gas mileage for a car of its size). When it comes time to buy our next car we'd still look at Mazda, but going back to Ford or Honda are also likely options. We've had better luck with those 2 brands than we've had with our Mazdas (which is saying something, since our Mazdas have served us fairly well, really).

[Irulan]

Irulan, when it gets closer to when we can actually afford to to make a purchase, I'd love to see what all you like/dislike about yours. Nothing is better than actually talking with someone who owns a vehicle (even if it's a different year).
nscrbug, we live in NC on the coast, so we don't get the real bad harsh winters of the mid west or the north. But that is definitely something to think about.

Here's a teaser.

[zoom-zoom]

Your Mazda was owned by Ford. Btw, many Fords are not made in the US either.

To the best of my knowledge Ford never controlled more than about 33% of Mazda...I think they may not have much controlling interest at all, at this point. I seem to recall that they sold a lot of their shares of Volvo, as well.

My Escort was made in the US. That was a fun and fast experience. Our dealer actually called us the day it left the stamping plant on the other side of the state...only took a couple of weeks. We ordered exactly the specs we wanted and it was built to order. Our experience buying our Mazda wasn't nearly as fun and involved a much longer wait. Mazda didn't build to spec. We had to wait until a vehicle was available with our basic package and color, then the dealership added some of the cosmetic things that are not factory-installed on any of their vehicles.

The Ford/Mazda partnership over the years has been sort of interesting to me, as the 3 cars I've owned have been either Mazdas or Fords.

As much fun as my 3 is to drive, I'm leaning towards going back to Ford for my next vehicle (really like the looks of the C-Max for our growing kid and bike habit). DH and I have owned 3 Mazdas and have found them all to be somewhat quirky. I have a CEL on my 3 that's been lit for about a year. Every time our mechanic runs the code and fixes whatever is setting the CEL off, something else triggers it. All codes have been related to the fuel fill/evap system. The sheet metal is horrible, as well. My 5 year old car has about 5x the dings that my 11 year old Escort did when we sold it to a friend. I've got dings in the doors from parking lots, as well as dings in the hood and roof from acorns and pinecones. And BIG dents under the feet for our roof rack. Our little Escort was boring, but super efficient and reliable. In almost 200k miles it was never in the shop for anything other than typical wear-and-tear. Ford's recent reliability ratings continue to impress me.